The city of Berlin began to turn off the lighting of several monuments and historical buildings during the night from Wednesday to Thursday to join the national effort to save energy due to the risk of shortages.
Eventually some 200 iconic buildings, including the Victory Column, Charlottenburg Palace and the borough’s town hall, will no longer be illuminated at night.
The city will thus be able to save on the use of the 1,400 projectors used to illuminate these spaces.
However, to stop the automatic mechanism that turns on the lights at dusk, human intervention, building by building, is necessary and will take several weeks.
It’s not a financial question
As a result, the city will not save money initially because this intervention cost globally covers the electricity costs saved for one year, ie 40,000 euros.
In the short term, therefore, it is “the energy saving effect that is decisive for the measurement, and not pure profitability”, according to the city that consumes around 200,000 kilowatt hours per year.
The head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, also wanted to set an example this week by announcing that his official residence in Berlin, Bellevue Palace, will no longer be illuminated at night, except on special occasions such as state visits.
energy saving plans
For several weeks, the government of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has called for national mobilization to save energy, whose prices have skyrocketed and while the supply could deteriorate this winter.
A campaign has been launched, aimed at professionals and individuals, to promote certain practices, such as lowering the temperature of buildings, favoring public transport or even buying a shower head that uses less water.
Many major cities across the country have also announced energy conservation plans.
Before the war in Ukraine, Germany bought 55% of its gas from Russia, a quota reduced at the beginning of June to 35% but which leaves the country at the mercy of the gas cuts decided by Moscow. The energy company Gazprom has, in several stages, reduced gas deliveries to Germany to 20% of its capacity through the Nord Stream gas pipeline.
Source: BFM TV
